Anarchistic demagogue has the last word

Shout it out … Webster, taken about 1979, raged for hours on a wide range of topics.

WEBSTER, always known simply as Webster, was the last of the Sydney Domain orators or, more likely, demagogues.

He was probably brilliant, possibly a little mad, and a heretic to all beliefs.

He made a living mostly through his spoken words. For a couple of decades he entertained - and irritated - thousands of Sydney people every Sunday, with a mixture of original thinking and showbusiness.

One of the last non-conformists in a world increasingly demanding conformism, he left Sydney a decade ago to build a new Jerusalem in Tasmania. He has died there, at 95.

The Reverend Bill Crews, of Sydney's Exodus Foundation, will conduct his funeral service in Launceston tomorrow. Mr Crews will later scatter Webster's ashes at Speakers' Corner, in London's Hyde Park, where Webster spruiked.

His surviving nephews and nieces will decide if some are to be scattered in the Domain.

John Auburn Webster was the last survivor of 12 brothers and sisters born in London to Rhoda Webster, an Irish salvationist married to a drunk who sobered up enough to father his brood. John found that the way to beat his disliked father was with words. He said later that his subconscious desire for a father led to his seeking a god, then rejecting him.

Largely self-educated, he ran bookshops in England and the rooms of his various homes - from London to Queenscliff, Sydney; to Scottsdale, outside Launceston - were forever piled with books.

The only physical fighting of his life was in Fulham market as a child, before the Salvation Army trained him to be a missionary in Africa. Instead, he joined trade union struggles during the Depression.

Webster married a Jewish woman in Paris during World War II to protect her from the Nazis. During the war he was interned as an IRA sympathiser.

He was linked to Sir Oswald Mosley's fascists but denied having joined them. He regretted having been anti-Jewish, saying: "Those who are anti-Jewish are the greatest enemy of mankind." However, he remained anti-Zionist.

He had begun addressing crowds at Speakers' Corner before the war. He advertised topics such as "The Natural Law Religion" and "Webster's Public Immorality" but his talks, with responses to hecklers, ranged widely over matters religious, spiritual, social and political, and lasted for up to three hours.

On public immorality, he said: "The Christians spend three-quarters of their life denying sex and the other quarter having it." On religion: "Where you find a priest, there you find a professional scoundrel who lives on superstition and who tries to blackmail you into a hangover called heaven."

An anarchist and iconoclast, he said: "I believe in nothing except the reality with which I am confronted. I've been a communist, I was brought up a Christian but I wouldn't go to heaven now, not if you paid me."

When a heckler shouted: "How many women have you got on the streets?" he replied: "You may have your women on the street. Webster has his in bed."

In fact, Webster was gay and had several male partners after coming to Australia in the 1950s, becoming a Muslim because they befriended him in Western Australia, and calling himself Muhammad Jon Webster. He travelled in the Middle East carrying a copy of the Koran, which he read.

Webster spoke in the Domain from the late 1950s. In the late 1960s he spoke at the Wayside Chapel, making friends with the Reverend Ted Noffs.

1229189622994-smh.com.auhttp://www.smh.com.au/news/national/anarchistic-demagogue-has-the-last-word/2008/12/16/1229189622994.htmlsmh.com.auSydney Morning Herald2008-12-17Anarchistic demagogue has the last wordTony StephensNationalhttp://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2008/12/16/webster_narrowweb__300x359,0.jpg

Shout it out &#x2026; Webster, taken about 1979, raged for hours on a wide range of topics.